A Twist of Fate
by Crazy'n'Love
Summary: Ed and Al are assigned to protect 3 sisters from an entire assassin pack. Action, adventure, romance and tragedy and let's not forget the many scenes of Ed getting angry and a death scene at the end! Surprise!
1. Chapter 1

This is my first Fullmetal Alchemist story so go easy on me and no flames please.

Chapter 1

Three sisters sat playing in the grass by a tree, 12-year-old Kairi was the oldest of these sisters and sat away from them watching them and laughing. Maria was 10-years-old and was the middle child, and the youngest was Molly and she just turned 3. Two angry men on horses started for the house that was about half a mile behind them. The children's mother poked her head out the door. "Kids, dinner time!" Their mom called out smiling. The two horsemen got closer and they were hiding something beside the horse. Kairi was the 1st to see them and told Maria to keep Molly back. Kairi knew these men wer up to no good. Kairi ran towards the house, but the horses were faster and got to the house first. What the two men were hiding was a torch that was already burning. They got close to the house and threw the torches into the house. The house bursted into flames and she heard her mother and father scream. Just as she got up to the house, the two men looked at her and they did not look happy. Kairi crouched down on the ground and tried to draw a transmutation circle. One of the men laughed and made his horse go up on his hind legs right over Kairi and she screamed. The horse landed...

Kairi's eyes bursted open and she looked around. It was only a dream, more like a flashback of what had happened 3 years ago. The three sisters were still on the same train they had been on for what seemed like forever. Molly, the youngest, was still sleeping in Kairi's lap and she smiled at her. She looked across the booth and Maria was sleeping across the entire booth. Kairi looked out of the train window ad sighed. It was snowing and the ground was covered in it. But that didn't matter. Since their parents had died, they only had one relative left, their uncle, Professor Gerald Armon. Their parents had been dead for a little under 3 years now and not a minute had past that the three sisters didn't think of them and not a minute had passed that Kairi had blamed herself for their death. They were on their way to a small town called Avalon where their uncle lived, because they were in trouble. Their parents were head of some kind of top secret Republic that were really close to the military, and since not everyone likes the military those people killed their parents. Now the same people that killed their parents were now after them. But even if they reach the train station, they still have to go through several miles of snow. Luckily for them, their dad was a huge part of the military, so now they are supposed to be escorted to Avalon by a selected military alchemist...

--a few feet from the train station--

Ed and Al walked towards the train station. Al had been silent for quite a while and Ed was looking a little bored. Ed finally put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "Tell me again, why we're going to take these girls to town...can't they take themselves?" Ed complained.

"I told you, they're in trouble...someone's after them and everyone else is on another case." Al explained, not even looking at his brother. "And besides, Colonel Mustang trusts us to get these girls to Avalon safely."

"Uh...huh...so why do we have to do it? I hate it when they make us do stuff like this, we're not delivery boys..."

"It's not that bad..."

"Whatever's chasing those girls they can take care of themselves. What's their names anyway...?" Al looked down at the small piece of paper he had in his hand.

"Uh...Kairi, Maria and Molly...is what the paper says..." The two had been walking for hours, Ed had a reason to complain, but Al didn't appreciate it too much. They were finally gettting close, only about another 5 minute walk and then they can finally sit down and rest again. They were quiet for a while until Ed finally saw the train station.

"Look there it is! We can finally sit down!" Ed shouted. Ed jumped up and ran to the station and immediately threw himself on a bench. Al walked the rest of the way hoping that no one saw the way his brother acted and sat down beside him. Luckily for Al, no one seemed to be at the station...Al looked around for anyone...but nothing.

"That's strange...there's no people here..."

"I'm telling you, Al, we're wasting our time..." Alphonse looked up and down the tracks for the train.

"It looks like the train's late..." Al looked at the ground. "I hope they're ok..." Ed looked at his brother and smiled.

"Don't worry, they're big girls they can take care of themselves on a little train ride." Ed said laughing.

"I wasn't worried...I was just..." Just then the train whistle blew. "...Look the train's here." Al jumped up.

"Whoop-ee." Ed said sarcastically. "They're just people, Al, no need to treat them like royalty." Ed walked up beside his brother.

"I know, but if Colonel Mustang wants us to protect them they must have some significance."

"I guess so, but I wonder what makes them so great..." The train slowly stopped and the doors finally opened. Molly jumped out of the train, stretched and smiled. The little 5-year-old looked up and saw Al. She ran up to him and stopped when she jumped in front of him. She looked up at the tall metal man with wonder and amazement.

"You're really tall." Molly pointed out. Kairi and Maria came out carrying all the bags. The two quickly noticed Al and got a little worried, not knowing what he'd do to their sweet little sister.

"Are you two the alchemists that Colonel Mustang sent for us?" Kairi asked.

"Yes ma'am, that's us." Ed said smiling as Kairi walked up to him.

"Then here." Kairi handed him the bags and they nearly made him fall over. Molly couldn't stop staring at Al and with a nervous laugh, he walked up to Maria.

"Let me carry some of those for you." Al said innocently looking at the two heavy bags she barely could hold in her hands.

"Thank you." Maria said handing them to him.

"Wow, you're really strong!" Molly said excited. She ran up to hiim laughing and climbed up on his back and onto his shoulders. Molly smiled widely and Al started laughing.

"So how far is Avalon anyway?" Al asked.

"Depends...from here it'll probably take about three days on foot." Kairi said.

"Three days!" Ed yelled falling over with the bags.

"Oh and by the way, my name's Kairi and these are my little sisters Maria and Molly."

"Nice to meet you." Al said.

"My name's Edward Elric and this is my little brother Al." Ed said struggling with the bags.

"Little huh?" Kairi said looking up and down at the two brothers and their size difference.

"Are they coming with us?" Molly asked smiling.

"We sure are." Al said.

"Hooray!" Molly said throwing her little arms into the air. Kairi, Maria and Al laughed as Ed once again fell over with the bags...But behind the building stood two mysterious men that were watching them...

ok I know the first chapter was terrible and short, but hey I had to bring three new characters in. The next chapter is going to be awesome, Ed and Kairi are going to get in a fight and it's going to be hilarious. Then their will be action and adventure and of course there will be loads of romance, but you'll see their love bloom next chapter...well...sort of...If you love FMA you'll love this story, it'll get better as it goes along, I promise...


	2. Chapter 2

Alright this is where stuff gets awesome!

Chapter 2

The five had finally left the station and Molly was still on Al's shoulders, laughing. Ed walked behind the rest mumbling angrily, not liking taking orders from a girl and was still struggling with the bags. "You think you could maybe empty these stupid bags out a little bit?" Ed asked stopping to catch his breath. The others stopped and turned to him.

"You're not tired already, are you?" Kairi asked looking angry and crossing her arms.

"No...it's just...these bags are really heavy..."

"Well if you're going to complain about it, maybe someone else can carry them if you're not strong enough sigh I'm sure someone as short as you could probably use a break or two anyway. I'm not even sure why Colonel Mustang keeps you around, he must like having an errand boy."

"WHAT! I AM NOT SHORT AND I AM NOT HIS ERRAND BOY!"

"Uh..." Al tried to say something but he knew that nothing he could say could stop his brother when he's angry and she just pulled the plug.

"You should be thankful that me and Al aren't just leaving you out here by yourselves! We don't have to drag you all the way to Avalon and carry your stupid bags that weigh almost as much as Al does!"

"Oh yeah! Well I didn't ask for you guys to follow us there!" Kairi yelled.

"Well neither did I!" Al, Maria and Molly watched the two fight.

"It's nice to see that Ed finally has a friend to have so much in common with." Al laughed.

"Does he do that often?" Maria asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, all the time..." Al and Maria laughed.

"WHY THE HECK DO I HAVE TO CARRY YOUR STUPID BAGS, ANYWAY!" Ed screamed.

"Because I thought you could handle it, but obviously not...Don't worry, I'm sure that once you grow up you chould be able to carry more..."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"

"I THINK YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THAT MEANS!" Kairi shouted. Just then they heard something behind them.

"Am I the only one who heard that?" Ed asked.

"I wonder what it was..." Al said looking around. Al picked Molly off his shoulders and handed her to Maria. Ed and Al looked all around, but their seemed to be nothing there.

"Must have been nothing...probably a dog..." Ed said turning back around.

"Oh yes Edward, because dog's always travel around during a snow storm." Kairi said sarcastically. Ed brushed by her and continued to walk towards the direction they were headed in before. "Aren't you going to check it out?"

"Why do I have to?"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING US!" Kairi yelled.

"Don't worry, I'll go look around, you guys stay here..." Al said walking away from them.

"At least someone does as their told, the errand boy can't handle that kind of work. Walking around is way too much for him..."

"Kairi..." Maria started.

"It is not, I just don't see why me and Al have to rick our necks for some snooty girl..." Ed told her. Kairi was getting steamed.

"Well, I don't see anything..." Al said walking back up to them.

"Come on, the sooner we get to this Avalon place, the sooner we can dump them off." Ed said.

"Ed..." Al started.

"SO WHAT NOW YOU'RE TRYING TO GET RID OF US?" Kairi yelled.

"It's pointless..." Maria said as Molly climbed back up on Al's shoulders.

"Yep..." Al said as the two sighed and followed their diluted older siblings.

"I didn't even want to come pick you up!" Ed yelled back.

"Well I..." Kairi started just as two shady men jumped down in front of them. "What the..." Al handed Molly back to Maria and Ed and Al stood in front of the three sisters.

"What do you want?" Ed asked.

"Listen shorty, hand over the girls and no one will get hurt." One of the guys said.

"So I'm short huh...?" Ed stood silently for a minute trying to keep himself calm.

"Just hand them over." The other man said.

"I don't think so..." Ed clapped his hands together and hit the ground. The ground glowed and a huge rock came out of the ground in front of him and Ed threw it at the men making them fall back. "Come on!" Ed grabbed Kairi's wrist and pulled her the other way. Al did the same to Maria and pulled Molly into his arms and Molly buried her face into Al's armor. The two men stood up and looked at each other.

"They're alchemists!" One guy said.

"Get 'em!" The other said. The two ran after them and the five kept running.

"You do realize...we're going the wrong way..." Kairi said angrily.

"Not now..." Ed told her.

"We can't out run them forever, brother." Al said a little worried.

"You're right, Kairi, stay behind me no matter what happens."

"I'm really more comfortable with fighting than hiding." Kairi said gasping for breath.

"JUST DO IT!" Ed yelled as he stopped and pushed Kairi behind him. "This could get messy..." Ed clapped his hands again and ran his left hand over his right arm causing the sword to appear above his auto mail arm. Ed jumped towards one of the guys.

"Now did he want me to jump with him..." Kairi thought looking at all. "Oh well..." She shrugged.

"Can't you do something?" Maria asked looking at Al. Al thought for a minute and then set Molly on the ground. He crouched down and with a nearby twig he drew a transmutation circle in the snow. He set the twig in the middle of the circle. Al touched the circle and it glowed. The twig glowed bright and Molly watched in amazement as she watched the small twig turn into a large staff. The oher man was heading towards them and Al grabbed the staff. Out of the man's jacket, the man pulled a large knife. The man pulled back his arm and he got closer and threw the knife down at Al who was able to block it from getting to the girls with the staff.

"I've got to do something..." Kairi said looking back and forth between Ed and Al. Ed was able to fling the man to the ground and hold his sword up to his throat.

"Any last words?" Ed asked smiling.

"Yeah..." Just then the man kicked Ed in the stomach and kicked him away. Ed fell with a groan to the ground. "Game over." The man stood up laughing as he turned to Kairi, she gasped.

_'Ed get up...'_ Kairi thought as she saw Ed knocked out on the ground. The man got closer and closer to her and she began to shake. Kairi froze in fear and didn't know what to do. She tried to move her arm so she could draw a transmutation circle, but they wouldn't move, she was scared out of her mind as the man walking closer took out his knife.

"One down..." The man said laughing. There was nothing she could do...Her eyes were fixed straight on his face. She thought of the last thing she could do and without thinking she did it.

"ED!" Kairi screamed and Ed's eyes bursted open.

"Too bad your mommy's not around to save you..." The man said smiling. He finally got up to her and he threw back his arm ready to plunge the knife into her stomach. Kairi closed her eyes tight. Just as he was about to strike, Ed jabbed his sword through his back. Blood spurted from his back and out the other side as the man started gasping for breath. Finally, the man fell to the ground, dead. Kairi opened one eye and saw the guy on the floor. She opened the other and smiled at Ed.

"Ed...you're ok?" For a second everything seemed ok, Ed smiled his goofy smile and gave her a thumbs up. After a second...Ed fainted. "Ed!" Kairi threw herself down beside him and position his head up on her lap. Al and the other man were still struggling with each other. Behind him, Maria crouched down on the ground and drew her own transmutation circle. She touched it and a huge rock bursted out of the ground and around Al. The man screamed as he saw the rock come straight for him. The rock pushed him down into the ground hard, killing him.

"Wow..." Al said turning to her. "Thanks..." Maria shrugged and smiled. "Hey brother...brother?" Al saw his brother in Kairi's arms.

"He's hurt." Kairi told him.

"Brother!" Al ran immediately to him and crouched down beside him. Kairi stroked his hair out of his face and smiled.

"He saved me..."

--a few hours later--

Ed's eyes blinked open slowly. He looked around; he was in a room and in a bed. The place was dirty and rusty, as if no one had lived there or cleaned it up in ages. "What the..." Al, Maria and Molly were in the same room he was in, all asleep. There were 3 beds in the room and Maria was in one of them and Al was sleeping next to Maria's bed propped up on the wall with Molly sleeping, resting her head on his cold metal leg. Ed looked down and saw his red coat was off and his left arm bandaged up. A cold light seemed to come from the window a few feet above Maria's bed and it shown directly on him. He looked out the window to get some idea of what time it was. It was dark and snow was falling gently from the sky. It was night time...but Ed was more concerned on where Kairi was. Ed slowly stood up and rubbed his face. He walked out of the room and down the creaky hall. Just as he walked passed a doorway he heard a voice.

"Oh, you're up." Kairi said. Ed looked into the living room where she was sitting on the couch covered in a blanket. In front of her was a fire, supposedly made by her. He looked around the room; it was just as dusty and worn out as the bed room he was in. The walls had no paint on them, it was just wood and the furniture looked all beaten up.

"Where are we?" Ed asked as he sat on the couch in front of her. There was a silence for a while as Kairi looked around.

"Not really sure. This place was just out here; I guess it's been abandoned. It looks like nobody's been here in a while." The two sat quietly for a while. Ed gazed into the fire and seemed mezmorized by it. Kairi looked at Ed, he was shivering. "Here." Kairi took the blanket off her and literally threw it at him. "Thanks...for what you did back there..." Kairi blushed as she looked into the fire. "No one's...ever done something like that for me..." Ed smiled as he looked back and forth from the blanket to Kairi.

"No problem...but we can share this thing ya know, no need for one of us to freeze to death."

"What?" Ed walked over to the couch she was sitting on and sat next to her. He threw the blanket over both of them and they smiled and blushed.

"Thanks..." Kairi said again.

--the next day--

_'Why were they after them...'_ Al thought to himself looking at little Molly who was still resting on his leg. He began to stroke her head. _'I mean I know they were enemies of their parents...but what did they do? It wasn't their fault that their parents were leaders of that thing. They're just kids...I don't understand it...If what Colonel Mustang said was true, then their father was some big part of the military...But...if they were enemies of their father and didn't like the military...why are they only after their family? Why aren't they going after all the military? Colonel Mustang said these girls have some big significance...but what is it? Are they some part of the military too? Maybe brother has figured it out...'_ Al gently picked Molly up and set her down beside Maria. He walked out of the room and into the living room. the fire had gone out not too long ago, the smoke was still flying up. He looked over at the couch and he saw something that made him hold back everything to keep from bursting out in laughter. Ed and Kairi were still on the couch and they must have fallen asleep. Ed was asleep laying on his back with his right arm around Kairi, who must have fallen asleep on Ed's stomach. The two were snuggled up into the blanket. Al must've accidentally woke up Maria because she walked up behind him and looked at Ed and Kairi.

"Aw, what a cute picture...and I didn't even bring my camera..." Maria said laughing causing Al to laugh. Ed and Kairi's eyes slowly blinked open and they looked at each other still a little tired. When they finally realized that they were next to each other, they screamed, which made Al and Maria laugh harder.

"Ewwwww, get off, get off, get off, get off, get off!" Kairi said pushing Ed off the couch.

"Hey...what was that for..."

"For making me sleep next to you..." Kairi shuddered. "Now I think I'm gonna shrink, you gave me your short germs...do I look any shorter to you, Maria?"

"WHAT!" Ed was getting angry again.

"You heard me..."

"Not this again..." Maria said throwing her hand to her face.

"I give up..." Al said.

Well that was a very eventful chapter...haha...if you liked this chapter you'll love the rest! Get ready for more action and romance in later chapters and don't forget to review!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Molly walked into the living room where everyone else still was and she yawned and rubbed her little eyes. Around her shoulder sat a small bag. She immediately walked up to Al and grabbed him by the hand and started tugging him towards the corner. "Come on Uncle Al, it's time for a tea party." Molly said smiling.

"Uh..." Al looked at Kairi who shrugged. Maria walked out of the room. Molly pulled Al to the corner and out of the bag she took some plastic tea cups and a plastic tea pot. She poured the "tea" into a cup and handed it to Al with a huge smile on her face and with a nervous laugh, Al took it. Molly then poured two more cups and ran over carefully and handed one to Kairi and the other to Ed who was still on the ground.

"Thank you." Kairi said playing along.

"Uh...gee thanks...I don't know what to say..." Ed said kind of annoyed still with Kairi for pushing him off the couch. Molly ran back and poured her a cup. Molly "drank" from it and watched as Kairi and Ed did the same, but then she looked at Al, who just held it in his hand.

"Why aren't you drinking your tea? It's tea time." Molly said innocently. Al placed the cup up to his "mouth" and pretended to drink from it.

"Mmmm...that's good tea..." Al said. Maria walked back into the room.

"Ok...there is nothing in the kitchen...what do we do?" Maria whispered to Kairi.

"Don't worry..." Kairi leaned over and pulled one of her bags towards her. She opened up a sack that was next to them and pulled out some bread. "Thankfully, I thought to bring a little food, just in case we ended up with some dimwits that didn't have any food...and we did..."

"Hey!" Ed screamed angrily. "Well, ya know we didn't have to agree to come get you..."

"Let's don't start that again you guys...Molly's in here..." Maria said.

"That didn't stop them before." Al said looking at her. Ed stood up and walked over to the couch across from Kairi and she looked at him. Ed sighed as he threw himself on the couch. For the first time, Kairi noticed something that she didn't notice before.

_'His arm...is that...auto mail? I wonder what happened to him...'_ She then looked over at Al who was still "drinking" tea. _'Was what happened to Ed, what happened to Al too? What are they trying to hide from us?'_

"Well..." Al said standing up. "I'm going to look for some more firewood just in case it starts getting cold."

"I'll come with you." Maria said grabbing her coat. The two walked out the door, when the door shut Molly looked at Kairi with a smile.

"Why don't you go play in the bedroom, Molly." Kairi said lovingly. "I need to ask Ed something."

"Ok." Molly skipped happily to the bedroom and Ed looked at her.

"What do you mean 'You need to ask me something?'" Ed asked.

"Exactly what it sounds like..." Kairi said looking down. "Look...I need to ask you a question..."

"Well I got that..."

"What happened...?"

"What do you mean?"

"Al...What happened to him?"

"What do you mean what happened to him? Nothing happened to him!"

"Ed! He's in a freakin giant suit of armor and never takes it off even when he's asleep! Something's going on that you're not telling me about and I wanna know what!"

"It's not important and it's none of your business!" Ed stood up and walked to the coat rack and quickly put it on, hoping that she wouldn't ask about his arm too.

"Why won't you tell me? It's not like I'll tell anyone else."

"I don't wanna talk about it, damn you!" Ed yelled.

"Edward..."

"Look it's none of your business and it's nothing you have to worry about..."

"Please...I just wanna help...If something's going on you can tell me..."

"It's nothing..." Ed sighed knowing that he couldn't hide it from her...but that doesn't mean he'd have to tell her the entire truth. "We just...failed in an experiment and he doesn't want anyone to see him...I really don't wanna talk about it...It's too painful..." Ed started to tear up, but he tried hard to fight it back.

"Edward..." Kairi started to feel bad for him.

--outside a few feet from the house--

Al and Maria walked away from each other each gathering wood when Al saw something. Right in the middle of the snow was a small circle of dirt, the snow was starting to melt away! But that wasn't what Al was looking at. Right in the center of the dirt pile was a flower. The most beautiful flower Al had ever seen. It had a long green stem with a single leaf on it, the white bloom was fully open and it seemed to glow and mezmorize Al. "Wow..." Al said. He looked over at Maria who was humming as she picked up another piece of wood. Al gently picked the flower and slowly walked over to her. "Here...I..I picked this for you..." Al said handing her the flower. Maria looked at the flower for a minute and then looked up at Al and smiled warmly at him. She took it out of his hand and smiled at the flower.

"Thank you...it's the best gift anyone has ever given me." Al laughed nervously. After a second of akwardness, Al walked away blushing a bit and continued to look for wood. Maria smiled at him as she walked away towards another piece she saw. She gently put the flower in her beautiful brown hair to use it as decoration.

"I think we've got enough pieces for now don't you think? I mean we won't be staying here long right?" Al said trying to forget that he just did that embarrassing gesture. Maria smiled and nodded. The two walked into the house to see Kairi and Ed still talking. "Look brother, we found a lot of wood, it must have fallen off the house or some...what's wrong?" Al saw tears stream down Ed's face. "Brother?" Without looking at him he started to walk out of the room.

"Wait, I'm not done talking with you yet..." Kairi said still filled with questions.

"Yeah? Well I am..." Ed said walking out of the room and Kairi sighed.

"Brother!" Al ran after her hoping to maybe cheer him up and dropping all the wood he had collected onto the ground.

"What was that all about?" Maria asked.

"Nothing..." Kairi sighed again as she helped her sister pick up the pieces of wood that Al dropped. Molly walked back into the room.

"Maria you're back!"

"Yup!" Maria said smiling.

"And you brought fire things!" Molly said as she skipped over to the middle of the room where they put the wood. After a minute of silence, Molly looked toward the closet door that was behind her in wonder. She walked up to it and looked at it.

"What's wrong Molly?" Kairi asked smiling. "You leave your doll in there or something?"

"I think I heard a dog!" Molly said smiling.

"What?"

"I heard a scratchy noise." Kairi looked at Maria who shrugged.

"Just to be safe...Molly come over here and let me look..." Molly ran over to Maria and hugged her, still glad she was back and had someone to play with her again. Kairi walked slowly towards the door with an angry look on her face. She gently placed her left ear against the door and listened quietly. Molly was right...she heard some kind of scratching noise...but it didn't sound like a dog...it sounded like..."Maria..."

"Yeah?" Kairi was quiet for a second just to make sure that's what she heard.

"Go get Edward..." Maria shrugged and walked out of the room. Kairi listened quietly until Maria walked back into the room with Ed and Al.

"What up?" Ed said looking at her.

"Come here and listen to this." Kairi said. Ed walked up to the door and they listened quietly.

"It sounds like...digging..." Kairi looked at Ed.

"You don't think..."

"Only one way to find out." Ed said smiling as he pushed Kairi behind him again and gently and slowly opened the door. The door immediately swung open and out jumped two men.

"Knock knock..." One man said.

"Where'd they come from?" Kairi asked.

"They must have dug a tunnel from outside the house...This way they can surprise us...and boy did they." Ed said angrily standing in front of her. Al ran to Maria and Molly and pushed them out of the way so they wouldn't get hurt.

"What do we do?" Kairi asked.

"You do nothing but stay back and try not to die." Ed clapped his hands and ran his left hand over his right arm turning it into his sword. Ed jumped towards one man leaving the other for Al. Al ran towards him and knocked him off his feet.

"Now look...I don't want to hurt you..." Al said.

"Yeah? Well I do." The man jumped at Al with a huge knife that he had pulled out of his jacket. The other man who was fighting Ed, grabbed a pole that was on the floor and started using it to defend himself from Ed's swings with his sword.

_'I can't just stand here and do nothing...'_ Kairi thought. The man finally tripped Ed up and knocked him to the ground. As soon as he got the chance, the man jabbed the pole into Ed's stomach making him groan.

"Not so tough now are ya tough guy?" The man said smiling. The man threw his arm back ready to jab at him again, but this time at his neck.

"Brother!" Al yelled when he saw him.

"Don't even think about it!" Kairi said as she punched him hard in the back, making him fall over. Kairi held out her hand towards Ed.

"Wow...thanks..." Ed said.

"There..." Kairi started. "Now we're even..." The man immediately stood up and Ed pushed Kairi out of the way as the man swung his pole at Ed, thankfully giving him just enough time to duck.

"Oh, too slow." Ed said smiling. The man who was fighting Al finally figured out that fighting him head on wasn't going to do anything. Al finally threw the man off of him and the man immediately crouched down on the ground and drew a transmutation circle as fast as he could. He touched it and it glowed and a huge block fell from the roof and hit Al, causing him to fall to the ground. Al tried to push himself up to get it off of him, but it was too strong and too heavy. As soon as Al was out of the way, he turned to Maria and Molly.

"Maria! Run!" Al yelled. Maria couldn't move, she was frozen in fear. Kairi saw him go after them and immediately sprang to her feet.

"Don't you dare hurt my sisters!" Kairi punched him in the back, not making him fall down, but enough to get his attention away from his sisters an onto her. The man immediately turned around and puched her in the face making her fly back a few feet and hit the ground.

"Kairi!" Ed yelled still struggling with the other man. Kairi pushed herself up and fought back. She punched him once and then missed. He jabbed at her and she flipped backwards and landed on her feet.

"Woah." Ed and Al said.

"I'm not as defenseless as you think..." Kairi said smiling. As Ed was looking at her, the man he was fighting punched him back, but this time he didn't fall down.

"Too bad what you lack in height doesn't help in your fighting, I guess you're just short." The man laughed. Ed's eyes turned black and he got angrier by the second.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT!" Ed yelled as he angrily clapped his hands and hit the ground. Out from beneath him grew a huge cannon and he immediately pulled the string causing a cannon ball to shoot out and hit right next to him. The cannon might have missed him but the impact from the cannon shot him out the window. Kairi and her guy were going at it, sometimes they missed and sometimes they got their target. Though she didn't want to, she knew she had to, to save her sisters and herself. She kicked him hard causing him to fly back. Kairi immediately started to draw a transmutation circle on one of the pieces of wood that Al and Maria had found for wood. She touched it and it glowed and it turned into a large sword. She grabbed it and punched the man to the ground and while closing her eyes, she jabbed the sword in his stomach, killing him instantly. Luckily, Maria knew what she was about to do and covered Molly's eyes. Kairi breathed heavily and she looked at her sisters...who were safe...She sighed with relief. Ed walked over to the window that the man was shot out of and watched as the man ran away, he then turned to Kairi. "Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" Maria walked over to Al who was still under the large block. She drew a transmutation circle on it and touched it and it glowed. The block slowly dissentagrated back into the ceiling. Maria helped Al up and she smiled at him and they both laughed.

"Well...it's about bed time..." Kairi said turning to Molly. Molly grabbed Al's hand and tugged him towards the bedroom.

"Come tuck me in, Uncle Al..."

"Uh...ok..." Al followed Molly to the bed room and Maria followed them.

"We need to leave tomorrow, Ed." Kairi said.

"Yeah, you're probably right...that guy probably is going to tell the rest of his men where we are...I'll get rid of this guy." Ed said as he threw the man that Kairi killed over his shoulder and walked out the door. Kairi walked back into the bedroom. Maria had already laid down in the bed under the window and Molly was in the bed next to the door. Al had just finished tucking Molly in and just as he was about to stand up, Molly stopped him.

"Good night..." Molly pulled him close and gently kissed him on his "cheek." Molly then snuggled back into her covers and Al looked at her.

"She really loves you, ya know." Kairi said. Al stood up and looked at her.

"Yeah..." Al laughed. Al walked over to the wall that he had slept by the night before and Kairi got into the other bed.

"Good night Al..."

"Good night." Al sighed and closed his eyes.

--a few hours later--

Kairi sat up quickly from bed and gasped. She looked around the room, everyone but Ed was asleep. Ed was sitting, leaning against Kairi's bed, looking out the window above Maria. Kairi slowly climbed out of bed and sat next to him. "Hi..." Kairi said quietly.

"Hi..." Ed said back. "What's wrong? Bad dream?"

"The same one I've had since my parents death...every time it wakes me up..." Ed smiled and they both looked up at the window. "It looks like the...snow's melting...winter's finally over..."

"Yeah..."

"Look...I'm really sorry..."

"Sorry? For what?"

"Getting you and Al into all this trouble."

"Eh..it's nothing we're not used to..." They were quiet for a minute...

"Ed?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks...for helping me and my sisters...it's nice to see somebody helping us out..."

"Hey, don't worry about it..." While Ed was looking up at the window again, Kairi's eyes were fixed on his auto mail arm.

"I really wish I could help..." Ed looked at her with confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever happened to you and Al...your arm and his body...whatever it was...it seemed to take a lot from you...and I wish I could help..." Ignoring her he looked back up at the window hoping that she would forget about it. Kairi looked at him and smiled and looked back at the ground. She then looked over at Al and looked at his body. "I really do..." Ed looked at her through the corner of his eye. "Well...I guess if you don't want to talk about it...there's no sense in me going on about it. Goodnight Edward..." Kairi climbed back into bed.

"Goodnight...Kairi..." Ed looked back up at the window.

Wow that was long...sorry about that...I got a little carried away...haha...-sigh-


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kairi sat up in bed the next day and looked around. Molly was the only one still in the room and she was still asleep. Kairi slowly stood up and walked quietly out of the room. She walked into the room and saw Maria. "Nice to see you wake up, sis." Maria laughed. Kairi didn't even look at her.

"Where's Edward...and Alphonse?" Maria shrugged.

"Who knows...I think I remember Al saying something about looking for a nearby town."

"And Ed?"

"He said we're out of food so he went to go look for some...They left quite a while ago so they should be back soon..." Kairi looked sadly at the floor. "Why?" Maria asked.

"No reason, why should I care what that shrimp is doing?" Kairi sat down on the couch in front of her sister.

"Well, you better get ready and help me get Molly ready, Ed said we're leaving as soon as him and Al get back. Geesh, you'd think he'd start ordering us around..." Maria laughed going to get Molly. Kairi looked sadly at the floor and then looked over in the corner where her sack was.

--flashback from 5 years ago--

A younger Kairi stood beside her father in her room. He was a tall man with brown hair and always wore his military clothes. He stood over his daughter at her desk and drew something on a piece of paper. "This dear, is a transmutation circle. It's sort of like magic and if you touch it..." Her father touched the circle and the piece of paper glowed. When it stopped glowing a single flower was in it's place. Kairi looked at it with amazement. Her father placed the flower in her hair and stroked her head.

"Daddy? Will I ever be able to draw a...trans...trasmutation circle...?"

"Of course, with practice, you could even become one of the best alchemists here." Her dad laughed.

"Yay!" Kairi said throwing her hands in the air.

--flashback ends--

Tears started falling from Kairi's eyes immediately as Al walked back into the room. "Well I...Kairi...are you ok?" Al asked slowly walking up to her. She immediately rubbed the tears from her face.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

"You're crying."

"I am not...there's just something in my eye." Kairi immediately walked away from him and back to the bedroom. Just as Kairi walked in, Maria and Molly walked out.

"Kairi..." Maria started. Maria sighed as she and Molly walked into the living room.

"What was wrong with Kairi? She was crying..." Al asked her, thinking that he did something to make her cry.

"It's nothing..." Maria said just as Ed walked in.

"Well there's nothing around here to eat." Ed said folding his arms.

"I found something brother." Al said excited.

"You did?"

"Yeah, there's a city a few miles from here."

"Well let's go, what are we waiting for?" Just as Ed turned to leave, Maria stopped him.

"We can't leave yet, Kairi isn't ready." Maria told him and Ed growled. With an angry look on his face, Ed stomped back to the bedroom.

"Why the hell aren't you ready yet!" Ed yelled. Kairi didn't even look at him, she just brushed by him with her bag in her hands and her head down and eyes closed. "Kairi?"

"Let's go..." Kairi said sadly and everyone followed her out the door.

--about an hour later--

They had been walking forever and everyone was getting tired. For the past hour, Kairi hadn't said a word, she just looked at the ground and walked forward. Molly sat on Al's shoulders oblivious to all that was going on, but Al, Ed and Maria were getting a little worried. "Maybe you should go talk to her Ed..." Al said.

"Why do I have to?" Ed asked a little irritated.

"Well you are the only one here that has anything in common with her..." Maria said. Ed didn't move. "Just do it!" Maria yelled softly making sure Kairi didn't hear her.

"Alright, alright, geez..." Ed ran up beside Kairi. "You alright...?"

"Why do you care?"

"Look...I just wanna help..."

"It's nothing that you would understand...having your parents die like that...burned alive...it was all my fault, I could've stopped them...but coudn't..."

"Don't say that..."

"It's true...I was right there...I could have drawn that transmutation circle faster...but was too afraid to..."

"Kairi...there was nothing you could do..."

"SHUT UP!" Kairi screamed. "You have no idea what I've been through, someone always coming after you and killing your own parents...to grow up alone with only your sisters as family. Not knowing what's going on and having to live on your own at such a young age..." Al and Maria walked past them...It kinda seemed like an older sibling thing. "Having to take care of your sisters, knowing that no one else would...and to watch their spirits and hopes of their parents just...die..." Tears started to stream down her cheeks. "...you have no idea what it's like...to live on your own with the military breathing down your neck, looking to you every five seconds...as if your not good enough..."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Ed yelled. "Nobody here knows any of that better than me..."

"Oh please, you mother probably can't wait for you to come back home so she can bake you that stupid little pie that she promised to make her strong little hero." Ed clinched his fists tightly.

"My mother died..." Kairi's eyes widened. "...my mother died when me and Al were only kids too...my father left us...almost as soon as Al was born...and haven't seen him since. Ever since then me and Al have been on our own..." Ed looked down at his right hand and clenched it tight. "...we did something terrible and we paid for it...searching for only one thing...and becoming a dog of the military was the only way to get anywhere close to it...and since then Colonel Mustang has been breathing down our necks trying to irritate to the point of killing him. Al's the only family I have left...that's it..." Kairi saw a single tear sneak down his cheek. "So don't ever say that I don't understand! I hate to say it but...it looks to me...like we're almost exactly the same..." Ed said looking over at Al, Maria and Molly. "I've noticed...Molly looks to you as a mother..."

"Yeah..." Kairi said softly a little ashamed of herself for yelling at him.

"She and Maria look up to you...you're their older sister and they look up to you just as much as Al looks up to me..."

"Uh...up?" Ed slouched over.

"Don't ruin the moment..."

"I get what you're saying now..."

"Do what I do now...you're parents are gone, yeah it's sad but...it's better to look at what you have now...Maria and Molly are still here, you need to protect them...because as far as I'm concerned your the mom now and they look up to you. Don't dwell on the past...they love you..." Kairi smiled at him.

"Yeah well...I still don't see how Al looks up to you." Kairi laughed. "I mean you gotta be what...4'7"?"

"Why you!" Ed chased her up towards them and Kairi just laughed. Al and Maria stopped when they ran past them. Al laughed.

"They really are alike aren't they?" Al asked.

"Yeah...they are..." Maria smiled.

--a few miles later--

The five finally walked into the town that Al had told them about and they looked around. "What is this place?" Maria asked.

"Beats me." Al said.

"You don't think this is Avalon do ya? I hope so..." Ed slumped over.

"I doubt it...I told you about three days on foot and because you passed out we stayed at that cabin for two days, we havn't even walked for one day." Kairi told him.

"Hey, I was saving your life!" Ed screamed. A drop of sweat rolled down Al's armor as they walked deeper into the town.

"I wonder what their all staring at?" Kairi asked. Since they had walked into the town, every person stopped to look at them and didn't move.

"They're looking at me, brother." Al said.

"Naw, they just probably never have seen travelers before..." Ed said. Al walked up to one of the people.

"Excuse me...but do you know where we are?" Al asked. The man screamed and ran off. "No, it's me..." Al sighed.

"Oh please, you people never seen a giant suit of armor before?" Ed yelled out. Everyone immediately turned around and continued what they were doing nervously. "Man, the nerve of some people." Ed said folding his arms. They walked over to a stand that looked to sell food. They each sat in a chair. The waiter walked over to them.

"What can I get..." The man looked at Al and started to look a little nervous.

"What's wrong? You never seen a group of travelers pass through a town before?" Ed said noticing that he was looking at Al. Al sighed and Maria touched him gently on the hand and smiled at him warmly trying to cheer him up.

"Can we just get some bread? I think we can bare with that..." Kairi said. A man nearby looked at the group of kids mysteriously and he smiled. The waiter walked away to get the food and Kairi rolled her eyes. "Geesh, you'd think they'd never seen a group of kids order food."

"Tell me about it." Ed said. The mysterious man walked up to them.

"So you guys are travelers huh?"

"Who wants to know?" Ed asked.

"Easy pal, I was just doing what a good neighbor does and wanted to invite you to spend the night at my place tonight. I can offer you a full meal, you kids look starved."

"Uh, no thanks, we're just passing through." Ed said.

"I don't know Ed, he seems alright..." Maria told him.

"Food food!" Molly said happilly throwing her little hands in the air.

"I don't know..." Ed folded his arms again.

"He doesn't seem bad, brother, I'm sure we'll be fine..." Al said. Ed sighed and looked at him.

"Fine, but tomorrow we head for Avalon. The sooner we get there the better."

"You kids are heading to Avalon huh? That's not far from here, I'll give ya a map when we get to the house. Come on." The kids followed the man forgeting all about the waiter and their food. "So what's you kids names?" The man asked.

"Well, I'm Edward Elric and this is my brother Al and are friend Kairi and her sisters Maria and Molly." Ed told him a little nervous to be giving out their names.

"Huh, well my name's Lieutenant York."

"You're a Lieutenant?" Ed asked.

"See I told you he didn't seem all bad." Al told him.

"Yup, been one for a while now." York told them. "It's over here, you'll love the house, there's a beautiful garden outside and I even have a dog for the little one to play with. He loves company and he'll be happy to see you kids." They all walked into a small beautiful house. "Here we are."

"Wow." Al said.

"Yeah, it's a pretty nice place." Ed said looking around. Molly climbed down Al's arm and to the floor when she saw something big run at them.

"There he is. Everyone, this is Napoleon." The dog stopped right as he got up to them. The dog was a great dane, the biggest dog in the world. It was a beautiful shade of brown and his coat seemed to shimer. He looked at little Molly and she grabbed onto his head and hugged him tightly. "He's a good dog and loves to play. I have a playroom if you want to play with him and his toys." York lead Napoleon and Molly to the playroom and left Ed, Al, Kairi and Maria alone in the main hall.

"Something wrong Ed?" Maria asked.

"Something...just doesn't seem right..." Ed told them.

"Oh please, I bet Ed's just nervous because that dog is almost as big as he is." Kairi laughed and made the others laugh.

"I am not." Ed said as York walked back into the room.

"Well, I suppose I'll show you to your rooms...now would you all like to sleep apart are together?"

"Could you give us a minute?" Kairi asked pulling everyone over.

"What's wrong?" Al asked.

"Ok, what do we do?"

"What do you mean 'what do we do?' We tell him we want separate rooms." Ed told her as if she was stupid.

"Yeah, but what if that guy that got away from the cabin figures out we're here and while you and Al are in another room, they grab us and kill us on the spot?" (Crazy'n'love: Well I'm going to say that would make pretty short story)

"She's right..." Al told them. "I guess we'll all just sleep together..."

"But we can't sleep in the same room as girls!" Ed said.

"That didn't stop you at the cabin." Maria told him.

"Well that was different, there was only one bedroom."

"And it didn't stop you from sleeping on the couch with Kairi." Al laughed causing Maria to laugh too. Ed and Kairi were getting a little tired of that being held up against them.

"Fine..." Ed said turning to Lieutenant York. "If it's alright with you, we'd like to sleep in the same room."

"Of course, I'll just move 3 beds into one room and because another won't fit, you boys won't mind sleeping on the floor, would you?"

"Of course not, we'll be fine." Al said.

"Alright then, enjoy, the courtyard's over there if you want to see the garden my wife made and the play room's over there just in case you want to play with Napoleon and Molly. Oh and there's a library over there if you get bored and want to read a book."

"We will, thanks." Ed said as York walked away.

"Well, I'm going to look around a bit." Maria said.

"I'll keep an eye on Molly." Al said as the two parted and went two separate ways leaving Ed and Kairi alone.

"Is it just me or does this house seem a little strange? Almost as if...it was watching us." Kairi asked.

"I was just thinking the same thing..." Ed said.

--in another room of the house--

Lieutenant York picked up the phone and put it up to his ear. "They're here..."

Ooooh, creepy...Well I don't know about you, but it's either just me or this story is getting a bit spooky for me. Probably just me shudder. Well, please review, cuz I love to hear from people and see if i'm doin a good job or not.


End file.
